Light or dark clothes?
Light colours reflect heat. Dark colours absorb it.
What to wear?
In summer we like white or light-coloured clothes. In winter dark-coloured clothes feel more comfortable.
What do you think is the reason?
What this lesson covers
The idea
Light-coloured surfaces reflect most of the heat that falls on them, while dark surfaces absorb more heat.
What to wear?
In summer we like white or light-coloured clothes. In winter dark-coloured clothes feel more comfortable.
What do you think is the reason?
- Light and dark surfaces treat heat differently
- Dark clothes make their own heat
- White clothes are always thinner
Four shirts in the Sun
Press the button. Watch the arrows. Some bounce away and some stay in the shirt.
Reflect or absorb
The white and light yellow shirts sent most of the heat back. The dark blue and black shirts kept more of it. (The picture is a sketch.)
Light-coloured surfaces reflect most of the heat that falls on them, while dark surfaces absorb more heat.
- Surface | What it does with heat | Comfortable in
- Light-coloured | Reflects most of it | Summer
- Dark | Absorbs more of it | Winter
Notes
Light-coloured surfaces reflect most of the heat that falls on them, while dark surfaces absorb more heat.
Check yourself
Why do we feel more comfortable in white clothes in summer?
Which surface absorbs more heat?
Why are dark clothes comfortable in winter?
A black car and a white car stand in the Sun. Which one absorbs more of the Sun's heat?
- White clothes absorb more heat. Dark clothes absorb more heat. White ones reflect most of it.
- White clothes reflect most of the heat that falls on them — correct. Yes!
- White clothes make cold. Clothes do not make cold. White ones reflect most of the heat.
- A light-coloured surface. Light-coloured surfaces reflect most of the heat.
- Both absorb exactly the same. A dark surface absorbs more heat than a light one.
- A dark surface — correct. Yes!
- Dark surfaces absorb more heat — correct. Yes!
- Dark surfaces reflect most heat. Dark surfaces absorb more heat, which helps us feel warm.
- Dark clothes are made of wool only. Colour is the reason here. Dark surfaces absorb more heat.
- The white car. White reflects most of the heat that falls on it.
- The black car — correct. Yes!
- Neither one absorbs any heat. Both absorb some. The dark surface absorbs more.